Electorate offices of Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten were also vandalised in a coordinated action that began about 4am, before planned protests throughout the day.
Shorten’s electorate office in Moonee Ponds was closed and staff directed to work from home after the building was covered in red paint. Shorten said the vandalism was “counterproductive” and “unfair on innocent businesses whose signage has been defaced”.
Pro-Palestine protesters at Ged Kearney’s office in Preston. Credit: Joe Armao
In Melbourne, the offices of Fraser MP Daniel Mulino, Wills MP Peter Khalil and Cooper MP Ged Kearney were targeted, along with the state electorate office of Northcote MP Kat Theophanous. Fake corpses were for a second time placed outside Giles’ and Kearney’s offices, after a similar demonstration in November.
Khalil told Melbourne radio station 3AW that about 40 protesters had gathered outside his office and plastered stickers across his building. Police were called after the protesters started banging on building windows and preventing staff from entering.
Other offices targeted included those of Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters, Moreton MP Graham Perrett and Solomon MP Luke Gosling.
The Australian Federal Police told a senate estimates hearing on Friday afternoon that there had been a 35 per cent year-on-year increase in significant security threats to parliamentarians, which required extra resources.
“Threats against parliamentarians are a threat to democracy and we are starting to plan our response given a federal election will be held within a year,” AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw said.
Protest organiser Caroline Da Silva said the protests would continue until the Australian government ended its complicity with Israel’s attacks on civilians. She said federal Labor’s failure to support a Greens motion recognising Palestine as a state had compelled their escalation.
Wong defended her government’s position on Friday, saying she and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had made “very strong statements” on behalf of Australia.
“We have said to Israel: do not go down this path. We have taken diplomatic efforts in the United Nations and bilaterally to pressure Israel to not go down this path, and to continue to put pressure on Israel to ensure it does comply with international humanitarian law. Civilians should be protected,” she said.
“But the depth of the feelings that people have does not justify, in this country, a resort to violent protest.”
Pressed on whether Friday’s protests were violent, Wong said: “I think if you speak to many workers who are being confronted with … the occupation of offices and the destruction of property, I think people have felt unsafe, and I think all workers have a right to feel safe.”
Nathalie Farah, from activist group Disrupt Wars, said she still believed the protests were peaceful. “The autonomous groups that took action, painting and graffitiing and smashing windows, were expressing their disgust and outrage after eight months of inaction,” she said.
“I can’t comment on whether we condone these actions or not. But we stand by that everything we’re doing is for peace. No one was hurt and at worst this is property damage.”
Loading
Victoria Police said all the incidents of office vandalism would be thoroughly investigated.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials, since Israel began its large-scale offensive in Gaza. Its war is in response to the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, when around 1200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.